Have you ever wondered which water fountain has the best water in the school? If you are picky in your water-bottle-filling endeavors, then, which fountain has the best stream? Which one has water that tastes the best? Which fountain has a water stream that will not spray all over your clothes?

A St. Charles East senior, Aiden Nilsson, set out on a quest to find out. Nilsson mentioned his inspiration for the project, stating, “After gym, I was really tired and dehydrated and was walking in the dungeon hallway. I got a drink of water. It tasted fine at first but then the taste got really copper or metal tasting and the taste lingered in my mouth for hours. That inspired me to find a good water fountain. I had heard about some in the building from myths and legends in the hallways.” He devised four categories on which he would test the water fountains: taste, temperature, filter and stream. At the end of the quest, which required three full class periods to complete, he rated each water fountain on a scale of one to five.

Located in E288A, both the left and right side fountains, got the highest rating of 5/5. They were rated with amazing taste, cold to ice cold water temperature and a normal water stream. On the other hand, the water fountain near F181 and F182 received the lowest rating of all the water fountains. Nilsson said it had a terrible taste and stated that it tasted more of copper than water. Although it had a normal stream, and the water temperature was cold, the terrible taste dropped its rating to 1/5.

Most of the water fountains averaged a 3/5. Nilsson said, “A good amount of them are adequate; however, the ones that have the metal taste need to have the pipes replaced immediately.” He added, “It is literally undrinkable.” Nilsson also expressed his opinions on how the water fountains can be improved: “The [water fountains] that are warm should have proper refrigeration systems installed.”
In the end, Nilsson exemplifies the importance of water quality from the fountains by asking a single question: “How are we supposed to learn if we are dehydrated?”